RECALL: Bushmaster ACR Recalled

The Bushmaster ACR has been recalled because it can go full-auto under some circumstances. If you own one, make sure you send it in to be fixed. Not only is it a safety hazard but a legal one. The BATFE are not fond of firearms firing more than one shot when the trigger is pulled

Frustratingly, Bushmaster only sent out this recall noticed in the form of a scanned image converted to PDF. I had to use OCR software to convert it to text. If you own an ACR I suggest reading the original recall notice.

The notice …

Bushmaster Firearms Intentional, LLC has become aware of a possible firearms performance issue that may develop with a small number of ACR rifles and we are requesting you discontinue the use of this rifle immediately, and contact us at your earliest convenience so that we can make the necessary arrangements to have the rifle returned to us for inspection and update if necessary.

All Bushmaster produced ACR rifles are impacted by this notification.

During routine testing, Bushmaster discovered a design flaw which could result in multiple rounds firing continuously when the trigger is pulled. This unexpected firing of multiple rounds creates a potentially dangerous situation.

Since the safety and quality of our firearms is our utmost concern, Bushmaster is implementing the following corrective action plans to correct the effected firearms as quickly as possible.

Therefore, we are requesting your timely assistance with the following action:

It’s a good thing that they didn’t start selling it with a 1/7 twist barrel; then they would have to recall guns from owners, instead of gun shops where they’re collecting dust the shelves… Bushmaster, while your taking care of the “full auto” issue, fix the barrel problem too. Like I’ve said before, I promise to buy one if you offer it with a 1/7 non M4 profile barrel!

Wolf

Of course they never make it clear what mechanical problem is the cause. If they had any non-monetary concerns I feel like they’d at least let us know what to look for.

charles222

Wow, that is lame.

Advocate

this makes me think they tested the crap out of the select fire control group and not the civy semi auto group… piss poor decisions abound.

anyone know if this recall reflects those that have select fire rifles, or just the overpriced civy versions?

Nick

The Masada was a cool concept rifle. Letting bushmaster produce it, rename it, slap it with a hefty price-tag only to recall it… what a failed project the ACR has been. I’m thinking my money is going to a SCAR or a reliable AR brand.

Rusgunnut1

haha! another nail in the coffin. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think a recall is nothing to be scared about, but still, not everybody will think that.

Nadnerbus

Never pay to be a beta tester, or this kinda stuff will happen to you.

Joe

Another extremely overpriced 5.56 gas piston rifle with reliability issues. The only good, cheap, reliable gas piston 5.56’s are the AK variants, but there’s no reason to give up the AR’s accuracy unless you’re shooting on full auto or shooting in a sandstorm which hardly any civilian customers are.

Magna

The problem that a few people have experienced is that the rifle slam fires. I have spoken to many Bushmaster ACR owners that have NOT had any issues with their rifles.

I speak for one of the people that have had this slam firing problem, and I just corrected it by switching primers on my loads.

Things to note with mine:

It happened occassionally when firing rounds with cheap commercial primers. (Would get a 2 round burst.)

It didn’t happen when firing 5.56mm NATO rounds.

I switched my handloads to using Remington 7 1/2 and CCI #41 NATO primers and have fired Several hundred rounds without incident. These primers have a slightly thicker cup thickness.

What I can say about the ACR is that I’ve fired over a thousand rounds through mine without a failure to feed or extract (The few SCAR owners I know have had issues with this), and the rifle with 55 and 62 grain loads through it fires sub MOA groups.

It is frustrating considering Bushmaster wants everyone to send their guns back for the fix, but whatever the case is, I’m still happy with my ACR.

root man

Funny..
What a joke.
As ACR fans cry about the SCAR…
This should not happen..
Gov. may destroy this abomination…

But it has a non reciprocating charging handle!

rm

Bill Lester

Well said Nadnerbus.

Mouse

I honestly don’t know why MAGPUL tried to make a rifle in the first place. The only exposure I’ve ever seen this gun get is on Future Weapons and in video games, which makes me question how serious they are about it. The fact that a professional firearms manufacturer like Bushmaster can’t even fix it only reinforces my lack of faith in the system.

Stella

One word: Bushmaster. A flaw that allows a gun to go full auto? Is Shrub Co. trying their customers a ten year stint in the pen?

Nathaniel

The lollercoaster just keeps on going!

Rob

Am I the only person that finds this hilarious?

All this hype, and SUCH a disappointment? Magpul must be laughing their asses off.

Well, can’t say I am surprised… I have seen many failures and malfunctions on Youtube regarding the ACR system… From misfeeds, double feeds, spent casings getting stuck on the way out, spent casing making a U turn INSIDE the chamber and getting stuck on their way out… allen screws coming out with the THUMB! And yes, WITHOUT any tools as well, like the promo said! LOL

Bottom line is: God forbid this weapon system being sold to the USArmy! Bushmaster recalling the ACR is the worst shot on the ACR foot since the ridiculous pricing AND the idea of making two variants to cash in more at the expense of the well-intentioned customer! At least, Remington only made one version

I hope that the poor souls that bought the ACR will FINALLY get the gun they paid for, which was a durable, reliable weapon system! For 2.6 thou and 3 thou, the ACR should be a whole lot better!

At least, a SCAR is sold for 2.5 already with the rails and the PWS flash suppressor/muzzle compensator, as well as the folding, collapsible stock!

I highly doubt the ACR shooting 1000 rounds with zero malfunctions! I have seen a brand new Enhanced ACR failing to extract spent casings, so I highly doubt any ACR having 100 rounds through the system without any malfunctions whatsoever…

By the way, Manga, hear-say is the SCAR’s downfall apparently…Nobody has SHOWN this whatsoever and wherever, contrary to the ACR, where there are many reports (VISUAL ones) of malfunctions of all sorts!

So until such VIDEO reports are produced, all SCAR troubles reported on just hear-say, without any proof produced whatsoever, are voided of any meaningful value! IMHO, of course…

Cheers!

Der SS got owned bigtime

You’re doing the same thing your accusing the others of doing. Where is your proof? This is one reason why I never go by 2nd or 3rd hand info. I only go by 1st hand info.

I own both and find truth and falses in both camps regarding pro and cons of each gun.

Mouse

I’m not going to lie, I did smile a little.

jdun1911

1:9 was the only thing that was offered when the ACR came out. I’m not even sure that the 1:7 has come out for sell yet. My main AR15 upper is a 1:9. To most shooters it really doesn’t matter. 1:9 will handle a wide range of ammo type with the exception of the most heaviest. I understand why people want 1:7 but you shouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

Mouse,
The Masada/ACR is well known in the gun community. It might not be known to the general public but everybody in the community followed the developed of the carbine since day one. There were a lot of feedbacks that Magpul took seriously and the original design was changed because of it.

The unfortunate thing about the Masada/ACR is the price point. Everybody was expecting it to be sub 1500 and even Magpul reps hinted it every time the issue came up on the forums for years. People weren’t happy when it went over 3k. It caught even Magpul by surprise.

At the end of the day the ACR like the SCAR is an upgraded AR18.

Jackson

If you are today looking for an OCR tool compatible with any platforms like Windows, Linux and Mac, a site that can do OCR for you online may attract you: goodocr.com. The result looks promising to me (English only).

@Corrector I know what the site says… What you can actually purchase is a whole different story.

On a different note, it’s still very disheartening to see that there are so many people with an blind loyalty the antique AR platform, who won’t consider a modern rifle viable. Every product is going to have teething issues, remember what a pice of shit the first M16 was? Both the ACR and the SCAR have proven to be far better weapons in their debut than the now ubiquitous AR platform’s first time around the block. If the ACR can manage to survive the worst thing that ever happent to it (being sold to Bushmaster) it will be a fantastic weapon system in a few years. The only reason the firearms community loves the AR so much is that we all own one, I for one would love to see us make some actual progress…

And lets be realistic, this supposed slam fire issue, is only an issue because of NFA laws (something in my opinion that should exist). It’s not exactly the worse operating failure I’ve ever heard of.

jaekelopterus

Gee, I hope the ten AKs I bought for the same price don’t get recalled!

Zach

Wow, if it weren’t for the ridiculous price you’d think it was a Ruger!

I’ll bet you it’s only a year or two before companies start shipping new guns, or at least new designs, with a UPS call tag in the box…

The good news is that after this debacle, once Shrubbie gets everything working right in a year or two, street prices should plummet to the $1k range where they should have started. Otherwise annual sales will be lucky to hit three digits.

Stella

jdunn1911:

While I agree with you that twist rate does not matter for most, the people willing to dump $2600+ on a “dynamic” “tactical” 5.56/.223 carbine were also going to want the option to shoot the latest and greatest 75 and 77 grain ammo. Selling a 1:9 twist barrel standard is absurd: the ACR is not sold as a squirrel gun and is otherwise very unlikely to be used as such; there is no need to be able to stabilize sub 55 grain bullets. Anyways there are plenty of good varmint rounds other than the 45 and 52 grain variety. It was plainly a dumb move that put off the ACR’s target audience.

William C.

As you guys know the military ACR is being handled by Remington, I am betting what they deliver may be a bit higher quality. BTW who is supposed to handle law enforcement sales, Bushmaster or Remington?

That said this is unfortunate development and I hope it doesn’t put an end to the whole ACR/Masada. Yes it is an upgraded AR-18, but most of the alternatives are also upgraded AR-18s or upgraded AR-15s. What are you looking for exactly?

If it didn’t cost so damn much I would still love to own one. I was hoping the price would eventually go down after the hype-sales wore off.

Aof Dark

Wow. Just wow.
For the overpriced gun that it is, this shouldn’t happen.

I always did like the SCAR since it has a short history with our military. I certainly wish things work out and hope that this recall is speedy and turns out well. At least they are admitting a flaw. I wonder how many ACRs have been sold.

jdun1911

The 1:9 twist will be able to handle m193 (55gr) and m855(62gr) without any issues. Both of those are standard US military issued ammo.

Depending on the barrel length 1:9 will stabilize up to 77gr. Not the best but it will work. With the exception of Mk 262 Mod 0/1 (77gr Sierra Matchking bullet) 1:9 will handle every US military round (54gr-68gr) without any problems.

Honestly don’t lose any sleep over this. I have 1:7 and 1:9 uppers, I use 1:9 because it gave me the flexibility of shooting .22lr for training.

jdun1911

William C.,

Not looking for anything. There are people that actually think that the ACR and SCAR are revolutionary design not knowing both are AR18 variants.

Bill

I agree with jdun1911. I keep my 1:9 for 22lr use as well as the ideal is a 1:12 twist? Unless 75 and 77gr ammo comes out inexpensively, there aren’t a whole lot of shooters out there who will be shooting that stuff in volume. 55 and 62gr is the market availability norm for the mainstream shooting community. Supposedly the 1:8 twist is a better compromise but no one is really doing it. I saw Rainier’s new self-branded 16 inch middy barrels are 1:8 though.

From the design standpoint, is this slam firing design flaw an issue with the original Magpul Masada design or a Bushmaster/Remington modification?

Redchrome

jdun1911 is correct that the ACR is in a lot of ways an updated AR18.

I put forth that the AR18 constitutes an existence proof that even Gene Stoner recognized that the AR15 was broken by design in a lot of ways. 🙂 The Army didn’t adopt the AR18 because they’d already invested a few million dollars into the rights and tooling for the AR15. Once again, bureaucratic inertia cripples us all.

If indeed this is a slam-fire problem:
The original Masada design had a spring-loaded firing pin so as to prevent slam-fires. Why was that removed?

Erik

Recalling a new product isn’t the end of the world- depending on how they handle it. The real issue with the ACR is they are over-priced, IMO.

Btw was someone at Bushmaster getting paid based on how many times they use the word “expeditiously” in a press release? Sheesh.

For all the extra time they took to release the weapon, you would think that they would have tested it a bit more extensively with a wider range of commercial ammo to see how it reacted. If it is a slam fire issue with non NATO spec ammo, that could have been pretty easily foreseen and prevented.

Oh well. I am still a fan of the concept, and think it could be a really great rifle, I’m just not going to pay three, or even two grand for one, and I’m especially not going to pay to help them iron out the bugs in the field.

I still love my AR, for the compromise design that it is. It’s still a beautiful result of form and function to me.

So, I take it for a couple of months we won’t be hearing anything or seeing anything of the ACR persuasion!

On the other hand, any news on the Remington front? Are they having the same problem, hence the long delay? Or are there any other problems being hushed under the carpet?

We, people, have the right to know! LOL

Cheers!

Eric

No problems with mine @ 4000 rounds. I love it!!!

Redchrome

Those two videos showing apparent ‘doubles’ could just be the guy accidentally bump-firing the rifle. It looks like his finger does move. If you don’t follow through correctly it can happen; I’ve seen it and done it.

larry

I dont know whats up with the prices, ive seen one in north dakota in bismark that was marked for $1550. mis mark maybe or we are getting royaly fucked.

Charlie

The ACR is a solid gun but does have it’s flaws. I find that the piston action is not as smooth as I hoped or expect it to be. The ACR is heavier than an AR unlike what was said in the promo Future Weapons episode. The ACR is also quite bulky and just the lack of even a rail on the bottom of the handguard on the basic version irks me a little. And the cheek rest is a pain in the ass to put into position. My opinion of the ACR is further diminished after firing a FN Scar and a Robinson Arms XCR. The Scar is a far better weapon system in my opinion. The XCR is on par with the ACR, but at $800 less and with a rail system on the gun from the factory makes it a better buy.

Der SS got owned bigtime

Not to me you really cant judge unless you own em both. Imo my SCAR 16s is very flimsy compared with my ACR enhanced. Infact the SCAR’s butt stock had to be sent back FN twice cause the folder button which is plastic broke. I have since changed it to a aftermarket metal one.

But back on topic I find both rifles to fire equally good and in my 5000 rnds so far opinion both shoot about the same.

Der SS got owned bigtime

Btw the piston loosens up after use. Dude don’t forget if its new you gotta break in gun.

Tom Oliver

I bought my ACR a couple of months ago and have put about 1000 rounds down range. I did have one malfunction. The weapon did not eject a spent cartaridge and loaded another INTO the heel of another round while the spent round was still in the chamber. Very weird. Over all, a very fine weapon able to shoot a couple of hundred rounds comfortablely and accurately. I paid $1800 for mine and added a $150 folding stock. Any suggestions for optics?

larry

Well tom you could go with a trijicon ACOG low power scope with dual illuminated reticle, tritium/fiber optic is my fave, no batteries required. Or a EOTech holo sight pairs nicely but that one does use batteries. Still it has no magnification and you can add a separate magnified scope behind it for more precise ranged shots.those ar my prefered sights but they can be pricey. the holo sight with scope would be a lot cheaper than the ACOG though.

Tom O

Thanks Larry. Great suggestions. I’ll check it out. I’m also looking for a quick release optic system that will allow me to quickly interchange different optics, but keep the accuracy of the mount. Have you heard of such a thing?

Larry

Ah yes I believe it’s called the lever lock attachment. Can be bought with both the ACOG as well as the EO Tech holosight and magnifier. Check out their websites at trijicon.com and EOTECH.com

Der SS got owned bigtime

I’ll say this I got an ACR enhanced in black didn’t get the recall , no problems or malfunctions and love it. That’s all I care about.

John

The ACR is crap! It’s just that simple. If you want a reliable rifle in the Bushmaster range – their Gas Piston AR15 is thee way to go! 😉